Are Hamas and Islamic Jihad planning a merger?
By Zvi Bar'el Haaretz Last update - 04:05 01/07/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1096979.html

"Only the aid from Iran continues to come in, and that too is only for
bereaved families and for charities," Islamic Jihad Deputy Secretary-General
Ziad al-Nahla, who is based in Damascus, recently told the Saudi-based
newspaper Asharq Al Awsat. The problem is that a large part of the donor
funds intended for Jihad is deposited in banks in the West Bank, where the
funds are confiscated. "We can still guarantee the minimum necessary and the
money reaches the Strip via the tunnels, just like the weapons," explained
Nahla.

The freeze on aid to Islamic Jihad is part of an overall effort by Hamas and
senior Jihad officials to merge the two movements and create a joint
leadership coalition in preparation for the possible reconciliation between
Hamas and Fatah and the formation of a national unity government. The goal
is to have Jihad fighters join Hamas' military establishment and to fold
Islamic Jihad's administrative officials and civil infrastructure into the
Hamas government and civil mechanisms. Islamic Jihad Secretary General
Ramadan Abdallah Shalah, Nahla and some of the organization's leadership in
Gaza, such as Mohammed al-Hindi, support the merger with Hamas and are
working to promote it.

Hindi's opponents, however, such as Abdallah al-Shami and Nafez Azzam,
object to the merger because they see it as eliminating the Jihad
organization. This is the source of the big dispute within the organization
and the economic pressure on its Gaza branch. One of the public expressions
of this dispute occurred several weeks ago at a gathering in Gaza: Hindi
talked about the Palestinian Authority's arrest of Jihad activists in the
West Bank and "forgot" to criticize the arrest of organization members by
Hamas. In response, Shami stood up and left in a demonstration of anger.
Islamic Jihad activists also mention the pressure placed on them by Hamas
during the tahadiya (cease-fire), when it arrested activists and confiscated
the weapons of Jihad members who wanted to continue shooting at Israel.
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As an organization, Islamic Jihad still adheres to its positions and
criticizes those of Hamas, which recently made specific mention of the "1967
borders" in reference to the Palestinian state. So far, Islamic Jihad has
refused to join the conciliation talks with Fatah and it rejects outright
the Arab initiative and the Egyptian plan for reconciliation.

The disagreement between the organizations attests also to the new direction
Hamas adopted following the Cairo speech of U.S. President Barack Obama and
the deepening ties between Syria and Washington. Shalah and Khaled Meshal,
the Hamas political leader in Damascus, are already preparing the
organizational foundation for the next stage, and judging by Meshal's
declarations it is moving closer to the positions of Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas with regard to a negotiated solution to the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict. There is still no formal recognition of the
State of Israel here, but even a long-term tahadiya agreement would obligate
Hamas to demonstrate its complete control in the Gaza Strip to prove that it
is a trustworthy security force. Such control cannot tolerate rebelliousness
from Islamic Jihad. Thus the moderate economic pressure that Islamic Jihad
in Damascus is exerting on its "daughter" in Gaza, and the quiet with which
it is reacting to the confiscation of funds in the West Bank.

Brothers, and sisters too

Enthusiasm for the new Egyptian law mandating the reservation of 64 new
parliamentary seats for women is beginning to wear off. It now seems that it
was prompted not by a yearning for democracy, but rather by the political
struggle over the character of the regime after President Hosni Mubarak. The
addition of 64 women will increase the number of MPs to 518, diluting the
power of the Muslim Brotherhood, which holds 88 seats.

As a representative body the parliament cannot simply arrange for the
appointment of several dozen female MPs. An election must be held, probably
in September. Steps are also being taken to rein in the Muslim Brotherhood:
Last week, for example, three leaders of the movement were arrested,
including Abd al-Munem Abu al-Fatuah, the secretary of the doctors union,
one of the largest professional organizations in the country, which is
controlled by the Brotherhood. Also arrested were Gamal Abd al-Salaam, the
secretary of the Arab doctors union and Dr. Fathi Lashin, a Justice Ministry
official. The head of the Muslim Brotherhood's parliamentary bloc, Mohammed
Saad el-Katatni, who attended the reception for Obama in Cairo, is also
likely to be arrested. Observers believe the arrests will escalate as the
election date approaches.

The Brotherhood, for its part, is adopting a new tactic: It is launching a
campaign to encourage women from among their ranks to contest the
parliamentary election. If the president wants more women in the name of
democracy, the Brotherhood can also contribute. This is a new policy. The
organization had refrained from sponsoring women for political office, and
the ruling party had assumed that it would continue to favor ideology over
politics. The assumption was proved wrong.

Even in the Muslim Brotherhood, however, even among happiness does not
prevail. The old generation is now being sharply criticized by the young
generation, which opposes the conservative line and primarily, the closing
of paths to advance within the movement. This is still not a revolution, but
large cracks are already visible in the unity of the Brotherhood.

It is enough to read the Internet sites of the young critics to understand
that President Mubarak is not the target of the attack, rather it is the
leadership that is incapable of being flexible, offering ideological
alternative that will correspond with the global changes and formulating new
principles that will extricate Islam in Egypt from the restrictive
approaches created by the founders.